Cookies and Mistletoe
by athenanoctea
Summary: Both pulled the ribbons that secured each of their gifts and lifted off the lids slowly. Ned


**Title: Cookies and Mistletoe (1/1)**

**Author: carpenyx**

**Date: 12/20/07**

**Rating: PG**

**Genre: Romance/Fluff**

**Characters: Ned/Chuck, rest of Cast**

**Summary: Both pulled the ribbons that secured each of their gifts and lifted off the lids slowly.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own. Just playing in The Pie Hole with the pie-maker and his dog. No copyright infringement intended. **

**Cookies and Mistletoe**

It was a night of Christmas celebration over in Olive Snook's apartment when Chuck paused in front of the door with a plate of festive cookies, a small gift-wrapped box tucked under her arm, and a nervous smile on her face.

Butterflies fluttered in the pit of her stomach, and threatened to break free at any moment. It wasn't like she hadn't seen Ned at all today but the thought of seeing him gave her that warm frivolous feeling of anticipation. They'd had their ups and down, especially lately, with clashing over little thing like her cup-pies or her newest obsession; pie-cookies.

"_I'm not a cookie maker. I'm a pie maker," he said dolefully._

"_I don't see why you can't add a little more variety to the menu." Chuck smiled as she meshed her knuckles into the pie dough._

"_I already did," he pointed out as he pressed the dough firmly into the pan. "Cup-pies, remember?"_

"_I got you to cave in on cup-pies. I'll convince you that pie-cookies are just as good," she laughed._

"_Pie-cookies?" Ned blinked in disbelief, looking at her. "I don't do 'pie-cookies'. Never have, never will. I will not bend on this. It goes against everything I believe in," he explained, perhaps in a little over dramatic tone._

"_So very tightly wound," she said with a grin._

"_Just the way I like it."_

Tonight, Chuck vowed to put all of that behind them. It wasn't worth fighting over. Besides, she had everything (well, almost everything) that she could ever want. She reached up and knocked on Olive Snook's door (she couldn't miss it because it was the extremely over-decorated one).

"Chuck!" Olive's face lit up when the door swung open. The festive holiday music echoed throughout the small apartment and out into the atrium.

"Happy Christmas, Olive," she said with a smile as she handed the plate of holiday pie-cookies to her. "For you, but you must promise that Digby doesn't get into them!"

"Of course, of course! Thank you! Come in." Olive unwrapped the plate of cookies and marveled at their elegance. "Oh Chuck! These are gorgeous." Olive didn't miss the anxious look on Chuck's face (surprising considering she was on her third glass of bubbly!). "He's not here yet but should be arriving soon."

"Thank you," she replied.

"Well if it isn't Little Miss Cup Pie," Emerson said as he scooped up a handful of mints.

"Pooh bear," Chuck wrapped her arms around Emerson. "Merry Christmas."

Emerson made some sort of grunting sound in protest before giving in and awkwardly returning the gesture.

Their embrace was cut short (much to Emerson's delight) by a rapping on the door.

"Coming," Olive called from the kitchen.

It dawned on Chuck who might be on the other side of the door and she quickly straightened out her dress, reached for the small package, and placed it on her lap after she sat. She took a deep breath, waiting for Olive to open the door.

The door opened and Olive squealed with delight.

Chuck strained to get a peek of the visitor when she lost her balance and landed on the floor.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Ned stood over the girl on the floor, a lopsided grin on his face and a small gift-wrapped present tucked neatly under his arm.

"Hi," Chuck said with a bright smile as she looked up at him.

"Hi," he replied.

Chuck scurried to her feet.

Both stood there, in the middle of the room for a few moments, just looking at each other, when Olive finally declared, "You are standing under mistletoe!"

Ned's face flushed a bright red as he looked up at the dangling foliage.

Chuck laughed softly as she passed the small present to Ned. "I have just the thing."

Ned smiled as he handed his box to her.

"You didn't have to get me any thing," she told him.

"I wanted to."

Both pulled the ribbons that secured each of their gifts and lifted off the lids slowly. Their eyes met and in that moment their laughter echoed throughout the building.

Chuck reached into the box and pulled out a pair of candy wax lips. She couldn't help but smile gleefully. "Two of a kind," she said softly as Ned followed her lead and removed his present – candy wax lips.

"I thought we might need them tonight," he said as he looked up at the mistletoe, then back to her.

Chuck's smile brightened as she put the wax lips on.

Ned did the same, bashfully.

Both of them leaned forward, pressing their 'lips' against each other, and sharing a very special kiss under the mistletoe.

"Very strange," Olive whispered to Emerson.

"You don't know the half of it…" He just shook his head and scooped up another handful of mints.

Olive joined him, taking some mints and they both watched as the boy named Ned and the girl named Chuck stood under the mistletoe, kissing with their candy wax lips, and a dog named Digby found the plate of pie-cookies quite delicious.


End file.
